Odds & Ends

Fifteen people were injured by exploding glass and flying fish when a shark-filled aquarium shattered inside a crowded shopping mall. The huge aquarium was the centerpiece of the Dongfang Shopping Center in Shanghai. Since it was installed two years ago, scuba divers have taken weekly dips into the tank to feed the sharks by hand. Earlier this month, however, the aquarium’s 10-inch-thick protective glass suddenly shattered. “There was no warning,” one worker told reporters. “Just a loud crack and it went. I’ve never been so scared.” A number of shoppers were injured when the 34-ton aquarium glass went flying. At least 15 people were taken to Changsheng Hospital with deep cuts. Three lemon sharks, dozens of smaller fish and several turtles died in the tank’s collapse. The entrance to the mall was severely damaged by the flood waters as well. Police are investigating what caused the accident.

Dateline: Poland

According to the Orange UK web site, a Polish husband decided to show his wife he was just as handy around the house as she was. Unfortunately, he ended up mistaking a steam iron for a telephone and burning his face. Tomas Paczkowski, 32, from Elbag was determined to impress his wife, Lila, with his domestic skills. “I decided to do the ironing while she was at work, just to prove a point,” he told reporters. “Women are always going on about multitasking, so I set up the iron, opened a beer and put the boxing on the telly. Trouble was I got so involved in the boxing that I wasn’t really thinking about what I was doing. So when the phone rang, I picked up the iron by mistake and pressed it to my ear. The pain was incredible.” Adding to the slapstick nature of his injury, Paczkowski tried running to the bathroom to douse his face in cold water—and ended up smacking into the bathroom door. “That gave me a black eye,” said Paczkowski. “So now I look more like I’ve been in a boxing match instead of just watching one.” Doctors report the helpful husband will make a full recovery from his injuries, but Paczkowski says he’s done with housework.

Dateline: Australia

A federal worker has been awarded worker’s compensation after she was injured having sex in a motel room while on a business-related trip. The woman allegedly suffered injuries to her nose and mouth when a glass light fixture above the bed fell during vigorous sexual intercourse at a motel in the New South Wales town of Nowra. She later claimed to be suffering from depression and was unable to continue working for the government. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, workplace health insurer Comcare initially refused to pay for the injury, sustained in November 2007, saying it had nothing to do with the woman’s job at a federal agency. On Dec. 13, a full bench of judges at the Federal Court disagreed, saying the woman was entitled to money, “even though it could not be said that her employer induced or encouraged her to engage in such an activity.” Comcare is deciding whether to appeal to the country’s High Court.

Dateline: South Carolina

Authorities in Spartanburg responded to a gas leak that turned into a domestic brawl. The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s office reports Shannon Manatis, 41, told deputies the incident began on Monday, Dec. 17, when her husband, 46-year-old Michael Manatis, passed gas that smelled “bad enough to cause her to almost puke.” Mrs. Manatis said she retaliated by spraying vanilla-scented Lysol in the “area” of her husband. But Mr. Manatis told officers his wife “sprayed Lysol in his eyes.” Michael informed deputies he “threw water on Shannon” and then chucked an empty plastic water bottle in her direction. Shannon responded by saying she had been hit in the back of the head with a glass of tea. Evidence at the scene seemed to support the husband’s water-throwing claim over the wife’s tea-hurling scenario. “Upon my original arrival to the residence there was a clear liquid on the back door and floor,” a deputy wrote in his report. “This was not consistent with tea but is believed to be water.” No arrests were made over the fart-Lysol-water/tea incident.